Route
Kamakura & Enoshima
The shogun's capital, built into the hills
About 120 km round trip; short drives, long walks
Length
10 hours
Distance
About 120 km round trip; short drives, long walks
Best season
Hydrangea in June, colour in November; spring and autumn weekends are busiest
Kamakura's temples are not on the flat. They sit at the end of narrow valleys, entered through cuttings sliced into the ridges — a defensive layout, not an aesthetic one. When Minamoto no Yoritomo set up his shogunate here in 1180, this bowl surrounded by hills was the argument.
After the shogunate fell in 1333 the city stopped being a capital, but the Zen Five Mountains stayed, and the culture did not move out with the government. An hour's drive from Tokyo today takes you to the capital before the capital.
How the day runs
Times are indicative. They move with traffic, weather and your own pace.
Pickup in the city
Via the Yokohama-Yokosuka road, about an hour.
Tsurugaoka Hachimangū
The city was laid out on this shrine's axis; start here.
Kōtoku-in, the Great Buddha
The open-air bronze; about 40 minutes.
Lunch on Komachi-dōri
The car waits within a five-minute walk.
Kenchō-ji or Hōkoku-ji
The first of the Five Mountains, or a bamboo grove.
Enoshima or Yuigahama
Sea or sunset, if the day allows.
Drop-off in the city
Indicative.
Which vehicle
Decided by headcount and luggage. A full car carries fewer bags.
Included
- Driver
- Consumption tax (shown in the fare)
Not included
- Expressway tolls and parking (charged at cost)
- Sightseeing admission
- Meals
- Personal purchases
- Special arrangements outside the operating area
On charters, expressway tolls and parking are charged separately at cost. Airport transfers are the other way round — those are included.
Cautions for this route
Temple parking is scarce; we park briefly and link the stops on foot.
Yuigahama and Enoshima jam at weekends; the return may run late.
Temple admission is paid by you at each gate.
The destination lies outside our operating area. Pickup and drop-off are both inside Tokyo's 23 wards and the Musashino–Mitaka area.